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Tag: Eddie D’Hondt

Chase walks out to pit road, sunglasses affixed on his face, as he makes his way by his fellow competitors.

If he wasn’t so hard on himself about commitment, he probably would’ve stayed locked in the motorcoach till everything shook itself out with how he was feeling.

Once he had finished the conversation with Sarina, he met up with the team for a discussion about the race that day. The conversation wasn’t needed – but it was a good distraction for him to have. He went through the sponsor appearances, and then forced himself to eat something as he knew racing on an empty stomach would not go well at all. He retreated back to the motorcoach, hiding out as he waited for a text or something from Sarina, making sure to head out to pit road just before start time.

Now following his introduction, he was hoping it’d just be a matter of minutes before he was in his own world strapped in the car.

“Chase!” He hears, stopping and rolling his eyes immediately as he turns in the direction of the voice. He could only roll them again as he noticed it was Kyle Busch making his way over. “Dude, have you seen Chris at all today?” Chase shakes his head no. “Damn. I heard there’s an arrest warrant out for him?”

“Ryan says that Chris poisoned him,” Chase states, knowing it was just a matter of time before the truth came out. Like Ryan had done the good duty in warning him, he had done the good duty in warning Kyle with him being Sarina’s boss. “Combined with Jared’s comment, it’s added up to enough for a warrant.”

“Sarina wouldn’t say much, but I thought that was the case. I haven’t seen him either, and truthfully, she hasn’t seen him as she’s been hanging around Christopher and I all day.” Chase rolls his eyes, knowing that had to be a great combination as nothing like hearing another round of Bell worries. “She went looking for her brother, and couldn’t find him, so she found us instead. We convinced her that we’d help look, but also watch just because.”

“Glad you had better luck than I did.” Chase knew he shouldn’t say too much, but as he took off his glasses to truly face Kyle, he knew it was worth saying. “Look, I went to her after Ryan told me and flat out told her what I thought. I said what Ryan said, and I said how I agreed based on the facts. She wasn’t too pleased, denied it entirely, was mad at me for that and walked out.” Kyle shakes his head, understanding.

“She had told me you guys had a disagreement about it…” Chase knew that was putting it mildly.

“Kyle, I love her. I really do love her and I want to spend as much time as I can possibly muster with her. I want to see us work this out and everything be fine for us. I know I was a little over baring in what I said, but it’s how I felt. Just promise me that you’ll keep an eye out for her, please.” Kyle shakes his head, accepting. He could see the emotions in Chase’s eyes as he told him.

“I will, without a doubt. None of this is her fault or your fault. If it’s meant to be, you’ll find a way back together. Good luck.” Chase smiles, glad there was an understanding. It felt better to be on the same page this time around, unlike last time.

“Thanks Kyle, and same to you.” He then puts his sunglasses back on, continuing the long walk down pit road to where his No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet sat on the pole.

He then leans back against it, easily doing the required pre-race interviews without much emotion showing through. He then accepted a photo opportunity with the boss, Dale and Amy, though kept quiet the whole time. Alan had picked up on the events that had taken place, silently assuring the young man that he had his back.

Standing there for the anthem, Chase had to admit that it felt lonely standing there without a hand to hold onto from Sarina. It even felt worse climbing in the car without a kiss, yet knowing she was somewhere on the property.

Once buckled in the car with the window net up, he takes a deep breath and focuses his eyes forward. He couldn’t think about Chris anymore. He couldn’t think about Sarina anymore. It was time for him to win a race tonight.

As the field pulls off pit road, Sarina sat up near the top of the grandstands with Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland. She affixed her headset on, tuning it to listen into Chase’s radio transmission. She was mad at him, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t care as she wanted to see him have a good, fun, safe night. She also held her phone tightly to her, trying her brother’s number every 15 minutes in hopes that he’d surface; it was very concerning to not know where he was. She was actually surprised the police let her go after a half hour of questioning.

“Be aggressive like you were in February all night,” Alan tells Chase over the radio and Sarina smiles. She’d have no problem with Chase putting himself in the same position as he did in the 500, but with a win this time around.

“Yes sirey bob,” Chase replies, which earns a small chuckle from Sarina.

The race started off well with Chase solidly running up front through the first stage without any problems. He also started off stage two well, putting himself in solid position. Sometimes he right at the front of the pack, and sometimes he started to fade back a little – it was all about putting yourself in the right lane.

As the second stage drew closer towards the end, the pack continued to close up more and more and chaos seemed to be happening more with nerves on edge. Contact was happening through the field as everybody seemed to want to bump draft. Going down the backstretch, trapped on the bottom lane, Chase felt a bump from behind, followed by the car going sideways as he went sliding through the grass. He managed to gather it up without a lot of damage, but felt frustration immediately in knowing who had turned him.

“That damn 95 (Michael McDowell) wrecks me one more time…..Damn it,” he starts off on the radio. “What in the hell is that MFer’s problem man? That is the biggest dumbass I’ve seen in my life. That dumbass can’t drive a wooden screw. Damn it.” Alan takes a deep breath, surprised at how quickly Chase went off as that certainly wasn’t like their driver. However, he understood that some of that frustration certainly wasn’t directed right at McDowell.

“We got a long way to go here, calm down and get back into it,” Alan instructs over the radio as he sits back on the pit box.

“Not much damage at all – maybe splitter a little,” spotter Eddie D’Hondt reports from his vantage point as Alan looks towards the crew, knowing that they had to put a game plan in action so they could fight back through the second half.

“Alan,” Alan hears after feeling a tap on his shoulder. He slips the headset off, looking over at Josh. “Is everything okay with Chase? I mean, he normally doesn’t flip that bad.” Alan could only let out a sigh.

“You’ve heard about the arrest warrant for Chris, right?” Alan questions, making sure not to cue the radio by accident as the car chief shakes his head yes. “Well, how would you feel if your girlfriend’s brother poisoned your best friend? Let’s just say that they had a little bit of a fight.”

“Do you think they’re going to work it out?” Alan shrugs his shoulders, as he wasn’t exactly sure. He believed in them, though, and had hopes that they’d be back to their usual togetherness next weekend at Kentucky.

“We’ll see. Right now, though, we have a race to focus on.” Josh shakes his head yes as he puts his headset back on, watching as the pit crew goes to work to fix the damage.

The second half of the race went smoother as Chase found his way out of trouble, working his way back to the top-10 to run 11th with three laps to go. However, all their hard work did not pan out as he would get spun just past the overtime line, resulting in a 22nd-place finish.

With the race over, Chase made his way back to the garage, parking the car in front of the hauler and climbing out. He shakes his head in disbelief as he glances back at it, before looking towards the guys heading his way.

“You did what you needed to do behind the wheel,” Josh says as he walks over first, patting Chase on the shoulder. “Nothing you can do about rotten luck and circumstance here.”

“I know – I just hate it because we had a good car,” Chase comments as he lets out a sigh.

“We’ll get them in Kentucky. Good effort, considering.” Chase shakes his head as he walks by the rest of the guys, giving them each a quick high-five or shoulder pat, before coming face-to-face with Alan.

“Relax, take a deep breath, and chill,” Alan tells him quietly. “I know you have a shit ton of bullshit going on right now. It’s going to work out, if it’s meant to be. Just don’t do something you regret.” Chase shakes his head, accepting.

“Did they find him?” Chase wonders, referring to Sarina’s brother and Alan shakes his head yes. “Did he take it easily?” Alan shakes his head yes once again. “That’s good. Have you seen Sarina?”

“One of Kyle’s guys came and told me that she went with her brother for support.” Chase rolls his eyes.

“She still doesn’t believe it….” Alan then watches Chase closely.

“Would you believe it, in her shoes?” Chase lets out a sigh and shakes his head no. “Like I said, don’t do something you’ll regret. Let her stand by him and do what she needs to do. Everything is going to come out and then afterwards, if it’s meant to be, you’ll find each other again.” Chase knew that Alan was right.

“I know…” Chase then heads up into the hauler, stopping at the fridge on the way by.

On Friday, he had grabbed his usual bottle of juice and placed it in the hauler so that way it was there to drink when he wanted it. Considering that he didn’t get thirsty yesterday, it was still there.

Taking off the cap, he takes a mouthful and lets it go down his throat as he lets out a sigh. He was sweaty and hot, but it was nice to have something cold to cool himself off, and hopefully find some sort of relaxation.

With the bottle in hand, he heads up to the lounge in the hauler, lying back on the couch as he takes a couple more sips. He figured he could chill out there for awhile, waiting to see how things shook out, before actually getting ready to head home.

“How are you guys betting against Crafton on an intermediate track?” Chad Avrit wonders, noting down everyone’s picks on a piece of paper.

“Well you guys are unfair in taking all the good picks, but I’ll snag Rhodes,” Jared Erspamer says.

“Guess that leaves me Nemechek,” Nick O’Dell figures as he glances through the driver’s list. “Can we come up with a better picking order next time?”

“Long as I get Sarina each time, I don’t care,” Chase says as the boys just roll their eyes.

All the eyes focused on the screen, watching Sarina lead the first several laps ahead of the field to Chase’s joy. Though as they got into the run, there was no stopping Johnny Sauter as he made the pass, taking the lead with a smile forming for Alan.

As the guys focused on various parts of the event, Chase focused on Sarina and how she was running, watching her fade back a couple spots. He watched as she dropped back to eighth by the end of the stage, knowing some adjustments were needed for the long haul.

“You’re not growing nervous, are you?” Jared questions, eyes focused on Chase. “There’s still quite a bit to go….”

“I’m confident in Marcus and know that they’ll get her working better,” he comments, knowing that Marcus was always good in adjusting for Timothy Peters through the years and had grown a good reputation with Sarina so far. He just hoped that paid off tonight.

“I told you that I’d win!” Alan comments, as he steals the chip bowl from Chad, earning a stern look from him.

“Do you realize how much that one playoff point could come into play come November?” Chad knew that Alan was right, but wasn’t set to give in.

“It doesn’t matter who is leading now, but who gets the white and black flag at the end of the race, and I told you who’d that be.”

“It’s not going to be Crafton tonight,” Chase comments. “Notice how much he is struggling on the get go of a run? He loses too much time.” Chad rolls his eyes, but he knew that Chase was right in his comments.

“Junior Joiner can make just as good as an adjustment as Marcus so don’t be counting your chickens yet,” Chad states. “Besides, I think he’s running better than your girl, and that’s how the night is going to go…”

“Those are fighting words,” Nick O’Dell comments, holding up a pillow as he peeks from around it, causing laughs.

“I don’t want any food fights tonight, okay?” Alan declares. “I don’t want to tell Rick that I had to void the security deposit due to needing them to clean the room since I had a bunch of rowdy kids as crew members get into a food fight, again.” The boys laugh, remembering the last time they got together to watch something – hockey – and the result being food flying across the room as they debated penalties.

“I still say that call against Crosby was unfair,” Chad states as Nick rolls his eyes.

“Will you let it go already?” Nick questions. “Your team is in the finals. Shouldn’t that be a big enough reason to forget?” Chad shakes his head no as Nick lets out a sigh. “Ridiculous. I hope Nashville kicks his ass.”

“And I hope you choke on your chips.” Nick looks on shocked as Alan just rolls his eyes.

“Boys, they’re going back green,” he says. “Let’s just focus on the race, please…..”

Everybody quiets down as the race goes back green for the second stage. Just like the first stage, everything went smoothly without any major incidents. While Sauter led throughout, it’d be Christopher Bell snagging the stage victory with Sarina finishing eighth as she ran just outside the top-10 throughout.

“Any comment, crew chief?” Eddie asks as he looks over at Alan, in reference to Christopher beating Johnny.

“That’s not the final checkered on the night so like they said, no counting chickens yet,” Alan says. “She seems like she’s loose. If he would go up on the trackbar or adjust the air pressures, she’ll probably be fine.” Chase knew that Alan was probably right, hoping Marcus got the idea based on what they were seeing.

“Isn’t it tricky though with the turns configured a little differently?” Jared Seate questions and Alan shakes his head yes.

“But we got it trickier with Pocono having three different corners. By the way, Chase, I want you to jot down after what you felt each corner and scale it so I can think it over tonight.” Chase shakes his head accepting as he takes the piece of paper from the crew chief.

“Chasey got homework….”

“Jared is still a little brat,” Chase comments, causing some laughs amongst the group.

Everybody turned serious as the race went back to green, with Christopher leading as Chase Briscoe moved into the second spot, looking for every way he could around the No. 4. All eyes were focused on the battle for the lead – well, except for a pair, who were watching for some progress out of the No. 18.

With about 65 laps still on the board, though, a grasp of shock escaped Chase as he watched the No. 18 make an abrupt turn off the track on to pit road.

“Not again,” he comments out loud, referencing the fact that it seemed each week, trouble found them. He watched as she made the pit stop, before returning back to the track.

“Loose wheel,” Chad Avrit reads off of twitter as Chase looks over in surprise.

“Seriously?” Chad shakes his head yes. “Of course because what else would it be? I mean, it’s not like anything can just go normal for a night. Oh no, that’s been her season with one thing after another. If she could just knock out some solid quiet nights, then maybe she could be like Mr. Bell and winning and leading. But oh no, we got to find issue after issue after issue.”

“She was also speeding so she has to come back down.” Chase then rolls his eyes, ready to head out then and there.

“You’re kidding?” Chad shakes his head no. “Why oh why, Sarina? You should know better. She got busted for that some place else. You’d think she’d remem-”

“She thought she had a serious problem and turned quickly. It’s understandable if she speeds a little.” Chase rolls his eyes.

“You’ve done it, too,” Alan reminds him as Chase lets out a sigh, knowing that Alan was right. However, it didn’t make this any easier watching as he watched her slip two laps down, sitting back in 19th.

Chase was set to give up entirely on the night when the caution flew about 20 laps later for Stewart Frisen hitting the wall. He immediately put faith in that they’d take the wave around to at least get one lap back.

“She won’t make it on fuel if she does that,” Alan concedes, watching her head down pit road. “Remember she pitted about 10 laps shy. If we get no more cautions, she’s screwed worse than already.”

“Besides, there’s still vibration complaints per twitter,” Chad adds.

“Of course there is,” Chase says as he rolls his eyes. “They should be putting on a wheel spacer as they probably fucked the studs.” The comment catches a couple of the crew members off guard as they look back at their driver. “It’s true…”

The race goes back to green, with the caution flying once again sooner as Myatt Snider gets into the turn two wall and spins. Chase could only let out a sigh, wondering what Kyle was thinking between the issues for both Sarina and Myatt now.

“The way this is going, Bell is going to get taken out by Briscoe,” Chase comments, barely even wanting to pay attention.

“Hey!” Eddie and Jared Seate both let out at the same time as Chase rolls his eyes.

“Nothing would surprise me anymore.”

“Wheel spacer is on now,” Chad comments, having read the latest tweet from KBM.

“Now?” Chase questions. “So they didn’t do that before? Geez, what are they? A bunch of rookies? I bet Kyle is fuming in his motorcoach right now.”

They watch the race go back to green, eyes focused on the battle up front between the leaders, along with seeing Justin Haley get loose, sliding up to Nemechek with Nemechek getting in the wall heavily for the caution.

“Just need one more caution and with the way these guys drive, that shouldn’t be hard.”

“Can I have a new pick, please?” Nick questions and the boys shake their heads no. “So first I get last pick and get stuck with crap-head, and then now I don’t even get a second shot?”

“Cheater cheater pumpkin eater,” Chad teases as Nick flips the bird.

“Boys….” Alan warns as he glances up from his notes at them.

“Just because your guy is still in it, you can’t be an ass for us,” Nick says as Alan just rolls his eyes.

“Remind me that this is the last time that we do this.” Jared then pouts, having ideas for next weekend already.

“But I wanted to have a get together for Gateway,” he states as Alan rolls his eyes, again.

“Do it somewhere else, but not with me involved, please. Oh, and Sauter is going to win because jackass 1 and jackass two are going to wreck each other like Chase said originally. They’re driving each other too hard to keep it clean.” Eddie and Jared then both laugh as they watch the field get ready to go back green.

The green flag flies with eyes set on the battle for first between Bell and Briscoe. The battle didn’t last long, though, with the caution flying once again for smoke pouring out the back of Grant Enfinger. It brought a smile to Chase’s face, though, as he knew that meant Sarina was back on the lead lap with 14 laps to go.

“I’ve never seen someone smile at someone blowing up,” Alan comments with a glance over towards Chase.

“You obviously haven’t seen those who hate Kyle Busch when he has a bad day,” Chase says. “But everything’s great now that Sarina is back on the lead lap.”

“Should we remind you of when you were throwing in the towel?” Jared Seate questions and Chase rolls his eyes.

“I never give up on my girl.” The boys then chuckle as they think back to his words.

“You almost left….”

“You figured it was all over with no hope in the kitty,” Chad adds as Chase lets out a sigh. Perhaps he did over-react, but you couldn’t blame him. He was passionate about how well she was going to do that night.

“Well maybe I’ll get a top-10 after all,” he comments, eyes focused as the restart was set to take place.

Over the final stretch of laps – and two more cautions, eyes never left the screen as they watched Sarina battle back, crossing the finish line in seventh for another solid top-10. Meanwhile, among the controversy of the last lap caution (Timothy Peters flipped), it was Bell snagging the win ahead of Briscoe by a nose.

Down in Texas, Sarina climbed from the truck with a smile on her face. It certainly wasn’t the win or top-five she had envisioned after setting the quickest time, but she wasn’t going to complain. If you would’ve told her that she would’ve had a top-10 after going two laps down, she would’ve said you were nuts. However, with high fives for all the guys and a hug for Marcus, she knew they’d put in a good nights work with a well-deserved finish.

“Sorry about that loose wheel there,” Marcus apologizes once she’s done media interviews. “I got to get these guys in line as we can’t be having that.”

“It happens as we all make mistakes,” she comments. “I’ve made my fair share this year. One mistake by the guys is going to happen. As long as we can come back stronger, that’s what matters. We’ll go get them at Gateway.” Marcus couldn’t help but smile with her positivity, knowing that she could be hard on herself from Chase.

“I’m confident about Gateway and Iowa. We have a good short track program at KBM, and I know you have ran well there previously. It’s just about putting it all together.”

“We’re going to make magic happen…..” Marcus could only smile, liking the sounds of that.

Sarina sat on the pit box, focused on the action on track. Everything that happened pre-race was out of mind without a single worry left to think of. For now, she was focused on Chase and them having a good night of racing.

Her eyes flip to the monitor, watching smoke begin to trail from Jeffrey Earnhardt’s No. 33 entry, knowing that it was a possible blown motor and a caution was to come. Her eyes then focused on track as the No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet came into view on the frontstretch.

She watched as it slowed dramatically, what appearing to be fire in view by the front wheel well, before being slammed into the back off and lifted off the ground by Brad Keselowski.

“What the hell?!?” She yells out loud in shock of what happened, her hands immediately landing on her mouth. There were no words to describe what happened before her.

“Chase, are you alright?” Alan immediately cues the radio after what happened. “Looks like a lot of fire there….” He then sits back on the pit box, eyes focused down the frontstretch where both Chase and Brad had ended up.

“He’s out guys,” Eddie D’Hondt tells them over the radio. “He’s out and walking around. He’s okay…”

“10-4.” Alan then takes off his headset, putting his notes together as he lets out a sigh. So much for a fun night of racing.

“What the heck happened?” Sarina questions once again as she looks over at the crew chief. He could only shrug his shoulders, though his eyes then laid on the screen. He saw the debris come out from Jeffrey’s car, followed by going through the nose of Chase’s car. It was obvious the fire was due to the oil cooler being knocked off. “Why the hell didn’t NASCAR call the caution sooner? Are they freaking insane? They caused that crap by not calling the caution! Jeffrey was smoking for a whole half a corner before they thought of anything. Are they insa-”

“There’s nothing that we can do now so take a deep breath, relax, be glad that he’s alright and go see him at the medical center.” She then takes a couple deep breathes, knowing that Alan was right no matter how mad she truly was. She makes her way down the steps, beginning the long walk back.

After climbing from the car, Chase made his way to the ambulance, climbing inside followed by Brad.

“Are you okay?” Brad asks and Chase shakes his head yes. “I didn’t mean to hit you. It’s just I didn’t realize how slow you were going till the last minute….” Chase could understand that, given how quickly everything happened.

“I hit a piece of debris off Jeffrey’s car and it punched a hole in the nose, hit the oil cooler, caught fire,” Chase explains, as Brad shakes his head understanding. Everything made sense now. “You’re okay, right?” Brad shakes his head yes.

Chase sat quiet the rest of the ride, fingers fumbling around the clips on the HANS device. It seemed the wreck was the perfect way to end May. Nothing had gone right through the month. From doubts and fights with Sarina, to multiple wrecks including a flying at Talladega, no luck seemed to be in his corner. Combine that with the Jared incident and he knew he wouldn’t miss May one bit.

Reaching the care center, he climbs out, eying Sarina immediately standing there as he walks over, wraps an arm around her and kisses her forehead.

“I’m okay,” he tells her as he looks into her eyes. She looks back into his, shaking her head immediately. Despite the nature of what happened, she was much calmer than she had been all month so far.

“I know and I’m glad,” she replies, kissing his lips. “It just sucks period that you have no luck and NASCAR can’t call a damn bloody race.” Chase then looks at her surprised. “Well, I’m sorry but the caution should’ve been flown sooner.”

“They didn’t know he was leaking flui-”

“There was smoke coming out of the back and going that fast, there should be no chances taken. That could’ve been a lot worse!” He then pulls her as tight as he could to him, rubbing her shoulders.

“Calm down, deep breathes. There’s nothing we can do. Let me go checked out and then we can get out of here, okay?” She shakes her head yes. He then lets go and heads inside as required.

He comes out of the medical center about 15 minutes later, handing his helmet and HANS over to Morgan before walking over to the media waiting for his comments.

“Yeah, I saw parts and pieces flying,” he starts. “I don’t know if he blew a tire or something and I ended up hitting something that he had on track. I hit it pretty hard. It was really solid, so I knew it was rough. I saw some fire, tried to get stopped and get out of the way and I guess Brad got in my oil and couldn’t get slowed down, so I hate it.” He then takes a pause, thinking back through his thoughts earlier. “Man, it is so just ridiculous. I wish I knew what to do to try to fix things like that, but at the end of the day you really can’t.”

He then walks away from the group after a quick wave, meeting up with Sarina as they head towards the garage area together.

“That wasn’t your fault one bit,” she starts. “ I heard your comments. There’s nothing that you could’ve done, as ridiculous as it was. You did what you could. Just luck of the draw.” He knew that she was right, but he still felt terrible as he glanced up on the scoreboard to see who was running where. He hated being eliminated out of the race so early – Lap 19 out of 400. It just sucked, period.

“I know…” He simply replies as he leads her into his trailer. “It just sucks…” She then spins around, pulling him close to her as she rubs his back.

“Things are going to get better. You guys are running great, and that’s half the battle. You’ve proven that you can run up front and contend for wins. If you keep doing that, you’ll shake this bad spell and damn well get some wins. I believe in you and I know it’s going to happen.” He gives her a slight smile as he leans in for another kiss.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, really. It helps…” She then smiles as she lays her head against him.

“I mean it, every single word of it. Everything is going to be fine. We’re stuck together like glue, things are coming around with Chris, and we’re both going to have success this year…” He just hoped that her words played true in every regard as he held her close.

“I believe you….” She then slips her fingers up his front, grabbing the zipper on his firesuit and pulling it down slowly. “Sarina….”

“Relax, Chase….” She then slips the zipper down, before reaching up and pulling the top off his shoulders. “I’m not going to make you do anything that you don’t want and I’m not going to do that. I just figure a nice massage would help.”

“That’d actually be nice…” He then turns around as she rubs his shoulders, followed by down his back a little.

“You know that you never have to be uncomfortable with me. You can always tell me what you’re feeling or want or don’t want. I’ll listen. We’ve had this deal from the beginning – we won’t push each other no matter what. We do this at our speed. And Chase, I know that you’re not ready for that and it’s fine. I don’t think I’m ready either…” He feels himself relax against her as he looks back at her over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry I tensed there when you started. I just thought the worse….”

“It’s fine and understandable. Now sssh…” She then works his fingers in a little deeper as he feels himself relax more and more.

The pair remained there for awhile, before he got changed and they headed out. Once the rain delay hit, Sarina texted Chris and Bethany that she was leaving with Chase and they headed back to the house.

As they sat in the living room set to watch the final 200 laps of the race together, they could only hope that Miles treated them much better than this past weekend.

Sarina lets out a sigh as she leans back against her truck, twirling her ankle, before taking a glance down pit road. She just wanted to put together a solid run to keep the momentum rolling after the last race.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She questions as he points to her foot. She then lets out a sigh. “It’s just a sprain, pretty much almost healed. Gonna be like Chase and go crazy over it?” Marcus then looks at her with a glance of surprise.

“So he’s on your case that much this week?” She shakes her head yes as he lets out a whistle. “What?”

“That boy has it hard for you, probably more than you realize…” She just rolls her eyes. “Actually, maybe you have it just as much. I’m guessing you freaked a little after he flew at Talladega?”

“Wheels left the ground – doesn’t that warrant a freak out?” He shrugs his shoulders. “Besides, I was going to kill Hootie.” Marcus then looks back confused.

“Hootie?” She shakes her head yes. “Who the hell is Hootie?”

“A stuffed animal that Hooters gave him. I figure it’s the curse of our bad luck.” Marcus glances over as he sees Chase heading their way.

“You didn’t bring the owl with you this weekend, did you?” She shakes her head no. “Just checking….”

“Superstitious?” He then puts his hands up in the air.

“I’m not taking any chances based on how we started this year.” She lets out a sigh as he walks away, knowing it hadn’t been the prettiest start. They told her that sometimes rookie have a rough learning curve and things don’t go their way, but that didn’t mean she was pleased about it.

**********

Chase climbs up onto the pit box, taking his usual seat in the second row, catching a couple concerning glances. It had been hard to convince some of the crew guys to allow him to sit up there with fears that he’d steal notes or something for GMS Racing or Hendrick Motorsports to use. However, Kyle worked at it, explaining the reasoning was simply to just support Sarina and Chase would never do that. It didn’t mean that he didn’t get the cold shoulder at times, though.

His eyes focus immediately to the No. 18 Switch Toyota Tundra on track, hopeful for a great night of racing. Ultimately, the night didn’t start out as planned with contact between Sarina and Ben Rhodes on Lap 2 after going three-wide.

“There was no room for him!” Sarina yells on the radio, referring to Rhodes.

She didn’t argue with her team, knowing that she had a job to do. She also didn’t argue when Marcus made the choice to pit with 10 laps to go in the stage, knowing they weren’t close to getting points and they’d gain valuable track position when everybody else pitted.

The strategy call looked to have worked as she restart fourth, though everything fell apart with 26 laps to go in the second stage when she headed down pit road with a flat tire.

“The carcass rolled back out on the track,” her spotter radios.

“Take your time team, do it right; we’re going to be fine,” Marucs tells him team as Chase sits back, watching. He could only shake his head as it didn’t seemed like Sarina could never catch a break.

She went back on track, though was unable to make up any ground as she continued to fall further back in the running order, laps down to the leaders.

“Something is wrong with the clutch. I’m pretty sure it’s gone,” She radios, not liking how it felt at all.

“Bring it to the garage,” Marcus says as Chase lets out a sigh. He could only think about the disappointment for both Sarina and the team in yet another day gone bad.

He walked back to the garage area, standing back as the crew looked over the truck and she climbed out. He let her debrief with the guys, not wanting to interrupt them as he knew what was like about her racing and knew he wouldn’t want to be interrupted himself. They were both the type that once in their zone, don’t mess it up.

Eventually she makes her way over to where he was standing leaning against the pillar, texting someone. He immediately puts his phone in his pocket, pulling her close and wrapping his arma around her.

“You were doing a great job,” he tells her. “None of that was your fault as you were doing great out there. It’s just one of those shitty luck deals. You were fast, and you’ll get them next week at Charlotte. You’re going to have a great year. I believe in you…” He then kisses her forehead as he keeps her held close to him. He knew how hard she could be on herself – having done the same thing himself through the years. He also knew how she let frustration eat at her sometimes. He didn’t know the magic touch to make it go away, but knew comforting words helped ease the sting.

“As much as I want to scream and throw a tantrum, you’re right,” she replies as she looks up into his eyes. “But I learned a lot tonight. I learned more about racing in traffic. I learned about restarts. I’m starting to understand these intermediate tracks more. We’re making progress.”

“That’s my girl right there. That’s what I want to hear.” They then head out of the garage area together, knowing they both needed their sleep. Chase had a race tomorrow, while she was off to Bristol to do some testing ahead of the Short Track Nationals. “I hate that you’re testing tomorrow….”

“I hate being away from you, but it’s part of the game. We’re not going to win if we don’t test.” He knew that she was right, based on where the program was the last time the late model was out.

“I’m just glad that you agreed to drive for me again instead of Kyle.” She then laughs, remembering the discussion had about that.

“Oh see, I didn’t say yes because of you. I said yes because of Ricky. I miss our fun times.” He then looks at her a little surprised.

“Oh, so you don’t care that you’re driving for your boyfriend and going to make him proud when you run well?” She felt her nerves flip flop, knowing it was going to be a tough field down there.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch….” He knew where the comment was coming from – confidence wasn’t as high as warranted with everything going on lately.

“Don’t get down on yourself. You’re a great driver. You damn well earned this shot.” She looks over, shaking her head yes in agreement.

There was not a weekend that went by that she didn’t think back to the days of working on cars by herself, racing underfunded equipment as she tried to get her name out there. She also thought about the journey life took her in moving by herself to North Carolina, escaping what was at home, and the ups-and-downs that brought with moving forward. Perhaps it was the pressure from that pushing her to succeed and pissing her off more when things didn’t go their way.

*************************

Sarina walks into the trailer, flopping on the couch as she places the bucket of popcorn between them. After solid laps all day at Bristol, her and Ricky had sat down ready to watch the happenings of Kansas.

The race started off strongly for Chase as he ran up front in the early stages, looking like he could contend for the victory. However, a trip down pit road and the world dropped out from underneath them.

“Come on here, come on here,” Alan Gustafson calls over the radio after the second caution of the race. “Right sides.”

“Watch that 95 here – he’s coming in late,” Eddie D’Hondt says over the radio as the pit crew conducts the pit stop. Once the tires are changed, jack goes down, Chase pulls out of the stall throttle down, hitting Michael McDowell and spinning McDowell around.

“Damn it! Back it up here…” Sarina could only echo the frustration of the crew chief, knowing the amount of damage that probably did to Chase’s front end.

“Well there goes our night,” Chase says over the radio. “Fucking awesome!” Sarina then reaches for the remote, switching the race off as she stands up and walks towards the exit.

“That’s it?” Ricky questions as she looks back at him. “They could make it back up….” Sarina then laughs, shaking her head no.

“There’s enough damage there that he’ll be riding around all night,” she replies. “Like he said – night over because Alan can’t damn well do his job properly and clear him leaving the stall!” Ricky’s jaw drops in shock of the anger let out by Sarina.

“Alan knows what he’s doin-”

“Explain why the hell that happened?!?” Ricky takes a deep breath, thinking his efforts would probably be worth nothing based on the anger.

“How is Chase supposed to clear his damn self when he probably didn’t see the 95 due to the headrest and visibility in those cars? Are you just trying to make excuses, Ricky?” Ricky shakes his head no as he lets out a sigh. He knew it was worthless.

“I’m just stating how things work. Obviously they’ll probably be changes moving forward. Now, where are you off to?” She then crosses her arms.

“What are you? A cop?” He knew he should’ve probably just shut his mouth right from the start.

“I’m curious, okay?” She then let out a sigh, knowing perhaps she shouldn’t be dishing her anger out at Ricky. She’d just have to kick Alan’s ass next time she saw him.

“I’m going for a walk to cool my head, and then probably going to come back and re-watch the practice videos. I want to see what I’ve been doing wrong. I then may also re-watch the videos of Charlotte that Kyle sent me. Is that okay, officer?” Ricky knew some cooling off time would be very warranted.

“Yeah….” She then smiles, grabbing her phone and leaving.

Ricky sits back on the couch, flipping the race back on, now hoping Jimmie could pull off a win after that disaster.

Sarina sat on top of Chase’s pit box, feeling every bit of nervous throughout the race.

Normally, she was calm and focused in watching Chase out there. However, after her wreck yesterday and knowing what happened in Daytona last year, she couldn’t help but feel the nerves. She could understand why Samantha, Delana and Sherry always cursed these races now.

So far, things had gone well. Chase had ran up front, ran in the middle of the pack, and shown speed – all setting up for a great ending to the race. She gave herself a couple deep breaths, knowing that was set to go well.

She felt herself growing with even more anticipation, possibly dumping the nerves, as he moved up into second, challenging for the lead against Kyle Busch with the laps counting down. Maybe today would be the day.

Then it happened.

“Stay on the mirror hard now….Allmendinger is clear,” she heard Eddie D’Hondt over the radio. “On your bumper shoving you….shoving you….Oh my god, he just spun us…Son of a bitch….”

With her eyes focused on the TV screen on the pit box, she saw A.J. Allmendinger get the run off the corner, just catch the left rear corner of Chase’s No. 24 Chevrolet. She watched him spin sideways, back up the track into the path of the field, followed by the contact from Joey Logano into the left rear, catapulting the car in the air.

Her hands immediately went to her mouth as she watched the car go up, slightly tip over, before being caught by the wall and riding it, before landing on all four wheels. She watched as he headed off into turn three still attached to Logano and Keselowsk.

“Well fuck,” she heard Chase over the radio, sending a sigh of relief through her as she lets her hand rest back at her sides. She even had a small chuckle at the choice of wording. “Was that my bad?” She immediately found herself shaking her own head, knowing like everybody else there was nothing he could’ve done there.

“No, that wasn’t your bad,” Eddie replies before anybody could. “He just shoved you so hard that it got you twisted up.”

“Probably not who we need pushing us right there,” Alan Gustafson adds. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” Chase replies. “Driving it back in….”

While the cameras before her focused on Allmendinger’s upside down car on the backstretch, her eyes immediately darted forward as he saw the mangled car heading down pit road, stopping in the stall before her. She then took a couple more deep breathes, knowing that he had to be okay if he drove the car back.

“Can’t touch it guys, can’t touch it yet,” Alan reminds the crew as she looks over at him in surprise. Were they really going to go back out there? How the heck were you supposed to fix all this in five minutes? “Nevermind. Climb out. NASCAR says we’re done due to driving under the red.”

“Fuck! Sorry guys,” Chase replies as Sarina lays back against her seat.

She slowly reaches up, taking the headset off of her head as her eyes remained locked on the car down below her, seeing the window net drop. She then watches as he climbs from the car, setting his helmet and HANs back inside before glancing up at them. He gives them a quick thumbs up, before heading towards the crew, as she feels another sigh of relief come over her.

She couldn’t believe it had happened. She couldn’t believe the fear that had washed over her once again. She couldn’t believe how her stomach had flip-flopped in a matter of minutes. Truthfully, it was even worse than the feeling at Texas earlier that month – and rightfully so based on what happened.

She then looked over at Cindy, watching her feverishly send a text message to someone.

“How are you so calm?” She questions, having not seen a single flinch out of Cindy the whole time.

“I’ve lived this my whole life,” Cindy answers, without looking up from her phone. “You just grow used to it. I was a photographer for a long time before I married Bill. I’ve then been through all of Bill’s scary wrecks – some worse than what Chase just went through. I’ve seen it all, sweetheart.” Sarina just shakes her head in disbelief.

“But how do you do it? I mean, that’s your son!” Cindy then looks up from her phone and to her left at Sarina.

“I know that Rick, Alan and these guys build really safe cars. I know that it’s just part of the danger. I watched the angle of impact and saw how the car landed. I trusted his words instantly. Do I freak out? I admit that I do a little inside, but remembering all these things makes it easier. You’ll find a way to handle it, better…” She shakes her head accepting, though found herself caught off-guard at the same time.

She then stands up, making her way over to the ladder, and carefully making her way down the steps with the help of some crew. She then hobbles over to where Chase stood talking with a crew member.

As she approached him, he instantly felt her presence and turned around to face her. He could see the fear in her eyes, the same fear that he had yesterday for her. Without a word, he reaches his arms out and pulls her close, letting her lean against him.

“I’m okay,” he tells her simply before kissing her forehead. “I’m okay, Sarina. No pain anywhere. I’m perfectly fine. You don’t have to worry about me.” She just lays her head against him quietly.

They didn’t need to say any words as they both knew how each other felt, and knew the feeling of being close together was just what was needed.

“Mr. Elliott, you need to go to the care center,” Chase hears from a NASCAR official over his shoulder. He then glances back at him, shaking his head yes. “And that’s an order and now.”

“I’ll go – don’t worry,” he says as he keeps his eyes focused on Sarina. “Do you want to come with me?” She shakes her head yes.

They both then get on the golf cart, taking the short ride back to the medical center. As expected, Chase got through cleanly without any issues, fully checked out and deemed completely wreck.

He emerges from the care center, seeing the sea of media as he lets out a sigh. He watches as AJ completes his interview with FOX, glad that he was alright after getting upside down. He then looks on surprised as AJ turns around, walking over to him.

“I just want to say I’m sorry,” AJ starts. “I was just trying to push you and got over too far. I’m sorry for causing that mess. Glad you’re okay.” Chase shakes his head, accepting.

“Glad you’re okay, too,” Chase replies. “And as far as what happened, it’s not your fault. It’s just part of plate racing. I mean, we know how these cars are.” AJ shakes his head in agreement before heading off.

Chase then takes a deep breath, walking over and completing his interviews necessary. Once they were done, he walks over to where Sarina was waiting, climbs on the golf cart beside her and heads back to the motorcoach.

Once they get back, he reaches to pick her up – but she holds up her hand.

“You just wrecked,” she starts. “Shouldn’t I be taking care of you?” He shakes his head no as he holds out his hand.

“I’m fine while you have a sore foot that you should be staying off,” he answers as she grabs his hand, standing up.

“I can hobble…” He then scoops her up in his arms. “Chase!!”

“I told you I’m fine!” He then carries her inside, placing her in the familiar spot, with her foot back up.

“And what about you mister? You just wrecked…” He then lets out a sigh as he undoes the zipper on his firesuit.

“I told you that I’m fine, but if it makes you feel better…” He then slips the top of the firesuit off, before flopping back on the other couch. “I’ll stay here quietly while you lay there.” She then looks over with a smile.

“By the way, where’s Hootie?” He then looks over confused.

“Why?” There was only one destination for Hootie after this weekend.

“I’m going to kill owl. That little shithead shows up and we both have bad luck.” Chase couldn’t help but laugh as he pulls the owl out of his pocket, setting it on himself. “He was with you in the car?” Chase shakes his head no.

“Alan gave him to me before you came over after the wreck.” She then reaches out for him but he holds him away from her. “Listen, you’re going to lay there and blame our shitty Talladega luck on this cutie?”

“Hell yes! Now give him to me!” Chase shakes his head no as he holds him close to himself.

“But I like Hootie…” She then rolls her eyes as she goes to climb off the couch. “Sarina Ott!” She then freezes, looking at him in surprise.

“Listen here Mr. William Clyde Elliott…” It was his turn to give a surprised look. “He may be cute, but I’m not taking anymore chances. Say goodbye to the owl.” He then stands up, placing Hootie in a bag.

“You’re not shredding him as he’s cute and it’s not his fault that he was bad luck. I’ll send him home with Sara and tell her to send his brother next race. Maybe he’ll be luckier.” Sarina could only roll her eyes, not looking forward to Hootie’s return personally.

“When does he return anyway?” Chase shrugs his shoulders, not remembering the sponsorship schedule.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you either as you’d probably shred the poor thing.” She then shakes her head no.

“Nah – I’d just give him to Kyle. His animals like to eat stuffies.” Chase then looks on in horror as she lets out an evil laugh. Chase couldn’t help but laugh afterwards as he lied back on the couch. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He then looks over at her.

“I’m absolutely 100% certain that I am okay. Not a single drop of pain.” He then stands up, making his way over to her couch, letting her sit up a little before sitting down himself and letting her lay against him as he wrapped his arms around her. “Better?” She shakes her head yes. “So is there anyway that I can talk you into keeping Hootie? I mean, I thought he was your buddy….”

“Chase….”

“I’m just saying. He’s cute and he was buddy, and it’s not his fault that AJ got into me.” She then lets out a sigh, looking over at the paper bag.

“Is it really going to break your heart to let him go?” He shakes his head yes.

“He became my best friend this weekend, second to you of course.” She then smiles as she reaches over with every bit that she had, grabbing the bag and dumping the owl out onto her.

“We’ll give him a bath this week and wash away everything. Maybe then he’ll behave.” Chase smiles as he watches her cuddle the owl.

Welp…..the Daytona 500 wasn’t a memorable experience for Chase, and that just sucked. There’s a reason why grass doesn’t belong at a race track. But hey, we’re past that right? He had a great run at Atlanta and I have that forth coming for here, as well. But first, we have the biggest race of the year.

The previous days of the weekend had played out like a routine of events, one after the other, with repetition written over them. It was just going through the motions, focusing on the task at hand. He got a celebration mode mixed in, via winning the XFINITY race, which was nice to have. Considering how things had been lately with the plane crash and all mixed together, a reason to smile was huge.

Though now, standing in the hauler facing the same mirror that he had become familiar too, today was a totally different day. It wasn’t just another race day, but rather his first career Daytona 500. This was the moment as he had reached the big time. The realization in what was set for this season, that he was making his dreams come true, that he was taking over the famed No. 24 car – it all hit home that morning as he stood there.

While others would be worried of expectations, it brought a smile to his face as he reflected back on everything that he had accomplished through his career to that point. All the hard work and dedication put in through the years was paying off now. He just needed to go out there and do a good job that day.

“Facing some disbelief?” He hears as he watches the hauler door open, glancing over towards his father with a smile.

“It’s really starting to hit what’s about to happen this year,” he sounds off as he glances back at the mirror. “I’m really going to race in the Sprint Cup Series. Everything is coming together crazier than I could’ve dreamed. I’m shocked, but I’m also proud.” Bill couldn’t help but smile in hearing his son’s comments as he made his way over.

“I bet you there’s some nerves there, too.” Chase wanted to shakes his head no and pretend as if that wasn’t the case, but standing there and realizing that he’d be leading the 40-car field to the green flag, there was no way to escape all of the nerves.

“I don’t want to mess up and let everyone down. I don’t want to let myself down. I’m just worried about making a mistake or not making the right move at the right time.” Bill places a hand on Chase’s shoulder.

“You’re a rookie. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s all about learning and moving forward. But, you don’t need to be worried. You did a great job yesterday in the draft – actually, spectacular job – and you’ve gotten better with each practice. I believe in you, the team believes in you, Rick believes in you. You just need to believe in yourself.” Chase shakes his head, knowing that his father was right.

Following the discussion, he made his way out to pit road, set for the raceday. He wished that he could just hop in the car, let the butterflies immediately escape his body, and focus on the task at hand. However, that wasn’t the case. There were driver introductions, interviews, and VIPs waiting by the car to see him. He just hoped that everything went smoothly, and quickly.

For the most part, everything followed his direction as the interviews went easier than he had anticipated, and driver introductions was actually sort of fun. Before he knew it, he found himself standing on the grid by his No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, counting down the minutes to the start of the Daytona 500. As he stood there thinking, it was all about following the same theory as the day before – make the right moves, and it’ll be an easy day in staying up near the front.

He is snapped out of his thoughts, though, as he notices a pair of familiar faces interacting with the crew guys, joking around and sharing conversation. He could think how odd it probably was for Ella and Leo to be standing on the grid for the first time with their daddy not set to his famed car, but rather Chase drive it.

“Are you going to take care of the car?” He hears, his attention immediately locked on a familiar set of eyes.

“I’m going to do my best to stay out of trouble,” he tells Ella with a smile as he kneels down to her level. She smiles as she walks over to him.

“I think you will do real good and win.” He smiles in response, all the nerves that he felt before escaping immediately. There was nothing more comforting than spending time with sweet children.
“I hope. We’ll have to see what happens, okay?” She shakes her head yes. Chase then glances a little towards the right, noticing Leo standing there, quietly. “Leo…” Leo looks up from his spot, eyes locking on Chase. “Can I have a high-five?” Leo thinks about it, before a big smile forms on his face and he gives Chase a high-five. “Thank you.”

The rest of pre-race went smoothly, with opening ceremonies going as they normally would. Chase stood by the car, an arm wrapped around Sarina’s waist holding her close. It felt nice to have someone to share pit road with pre-race. It felt nice to have someone that he could share every detail of his life with. It felt nice to totally open up without any reservations.

“I love you,” he tells her, giving her a hug following the national anthem.

“I love you too,” she simply tells him before walking away slowly. He then gives each of his parents a hug, before climbing in the car. It was time to do what he was supposed to do.

The race started off great as he was able to lead the first couple of laps, before being passed by his teammate. Still, though, he was able to remain near the front of the field, holding his own. Though, as the same with the Duel, he got in the wrong lane and found himself sliding back to the pack. It was okay. It was part of Daytona. He just needed to work his way back up there.

Consulting with his spotter in what lines were moving, he made the decision to go up through the middle, figuring that he could begin his charge as others had done before him.

Then it happened.

The car felt light, twitched sideways too quickly to catch and went sliding down off of the track. He kept his hands firmly on the steering wheel, knowing that he could steer himself away from the inside wall, go for a slide and be fine.

That didn’t happen accordingly, though. The car ended up hooking, shooting into the infield grass, launching the front off of the ground as it dug in, before landing. The force of hitting the grass caused a pain to shoot up his left side immediately, as he lost his breath in the process.

Sitting in the car once it had come to stop, he closes his eyes, focusing on the breathing techniques that he was taught while his ribs worked at healing, while hoping that the pain would die down fast. He could already see himself sitting in a hospital room, finding out that things were worse than expected, and everybody playing worrywart over his condition and running the race.

“Chase?” He hears Eddie D’Hondt on the radio after a couple seconds. He moves his hand to the button on the steering wheel, pressing it to cue the radio.

“I’m okay,” he assures the team. “I’m okay…”

The pair of simple words gave a sense of relief on the pit box as Sarina let out the breath that she had been holding. As soon as the car hit the grass, she found herself turned into instant worry mode, panicking over his condition. What if he had hurt himself worse? What if the rib injury had made things worse? What if having the concussion after the plane crash presented issues here? It seemed that every theory possible flooded through her mind.

“Can I meet go him at the care center?” She asks with curiosity. She hadn’t been to a race as a girlfriend so she didn’t know procedure, except driers went to the care center to be checked out following a wreck. She could already see it taking time based on Chase’s condition.

“Of course you may,” Alan tells her as he takes his headset off, focus on the young lady sitting beside him. He could see the worry that she felt, and echoed those sentiments as he had his opinions on Chase’s condition entering the weekend already. “I can go with you and lead you there, if you want.” She shakes her head slowly, as Alan glances over at the car chief, who simply shakes his head in response. They knew the deal – start working on making repairs so they could go out and make laps.

************************

“Go on…” Alan tells her as they reach the room. She goes around the corner, walking up to Chase and wrapping both arms around him. “She was worried.”

“I’m okay,” he says as he wraps his arms around her, kissing her forehead. He then lets her go, forcing her to look at him in the eyes. “I’m okay. You don’t have anything to worry about.” She shook her head no immediately, knowing otherwise.

“What about your ribs?” He then takes a deep breath, feeling the pain that still remained. He had been worried himself till talking with the doctor.

“Everything is still the same as it was before. It just sent a shock through my system that was emphasized by the injury, causing a lot of pain. However, the doctor says checking me out that everything is still as it was before. I’m okay, Sarina.” She shakes her head, letting those words shake in as the worry slowly escaped.

“I feel so bad for overworrying and freaking an-”

“It’s a natural reaction,” Alan cuts her rambling off from his corner in the small room. “You were worried about him because you care a lot about him. Whether you children want to admit it or not, she loves you a lot and would do anything for you.” Chase had felt that same feeling a couple days prior in their discussion. However, hearing confirmation from his crew chief, it made him feel even better.

“I have no problem with that because I love her a lot, and I would do anything for her in return,” Chase shares, before leaning in and kissing Sarina’s lips. “It’s just convincing this girl to admit it out loud just how much she loves me.” Sarina could only smile in response as she shrugged her shoulders. It was hard to open up and feel that way again. It was hard knowing the pain when those doors were shattered previously. Though, slowly, Chase was leaving her no choice but to accept and open up.

“I guess maybe I do love you a little more than I thought,” she comments as Chase could only smile, despite the pain that he was feeling. There was no amount of pain that could possibly wipe the smile off in hearing those words, even if his precious car was tore up.

Though, the smile did slowly fade away as he found himself thinking more than he probably should be at that moment. He wanted to be happy. He wanted to feel the moment and stick with it. However, he couldn’t stop himself from reflecting back to what happened just a couple weeks prior to them both. What if the plane hadn’t landed like it did? What if they were injured worse? What if…..

Taking a deep breath, giving his head a shake, he knew that he couldn’t let that thought ponder his mind. He just had to keep reminding himself how thankful he was that they had come out decently, and hope to hear news on the sabotager soon.

“Oh, Kendall texted me during the early stages race by the way,” Sabrina starts, catching Chase’s immediate attention as he knew that as she was referring to Kendall Taylor, the FBI agent that was handling their case. “She says that checking all the databases and spreading that photo around of the guy, they were able to identify him. They say that his name is Harry Butler. She was wondering if we’d ever heard of him.” Chase continues to run the name through his brain, trying to place him somewhere, eventually shaking his head no.

“It doesn’t sound familiar to me,” he offers as she shakes her head, accepting. “Do you know a Harry Butler, or any Butler actually?” Sabrina shakes her head no.

“I’ll text Kendall back and tell her that you don’t know of the name. She said that she was going to cross reference it with past gang contacts and NASCAR resources to see if something pops up.” Chase shakes his head, accepting. It seemed like the reasonable next step.

At least they were growing closer to knowing the story behind what happened, through how it was accomplished and why it was done. He just hoped that the answers were released soon.

For the record, that XFINITY race was awesome to watch and that was a spectacular move pulled by Chase Elliott to keep the lead ahead of Joey Logano, and pick up the win.

There’s also one other thing for certain – NASCAR has certainly started the season on a high with a pair of great finishes.

The weekend seemed to be repeating itself over and over in the mind of the 20-year-old.

It was a like routine of events, one after the other, with repetition written over it. That wasn’t a problem with him, though, as this was a repetition of events that he wanted to get in the flow with. This was the best repetition of events. It meant that he was getting tons of lap in the car, which was certainly his happy place.

Just as the days before, he was once again standing in the hauler, making sure that the firesuit was fitted right to his body. Rather than in wearing the familiar NAPA blue colors, he found himself dressed in the Tax Slayer maroon and white as he got set for the XFINITY race that afternoon. It felt weird to be in a different color suit for the first time in a couple years, but it had some similarity to it in reminding him of his late model suit. Spinning around and giving himself another glance, he thought he could get used to it.

“Don’t worry – the ladies will fan over you regardless,” he heard pit crew coach and his health expert of the weekend Greg Morin behind him. “They may even want to pinch your butt as I hear white brings that feature out more.”

He had to chuckle as he thought about that. It felt weird to have the girls fanning over him every weekend, messaging him that he was cute and they had a crush on him. He was just a simple boy from Georgia. He didn’t think there was anything special to his looks as there was no way that he stood out to anyone.

The repetition of events also formed once again as he watched the hauler door open up, and saw his mother standing there, arms crossed.

“Chase, you shouldn’t be running this race,” he hears, all too sounding familiar. It was the same thing that Sarina had told him before the Can-Am Duel. It was the same thing that he heard about running the three practice sessions since the Can-Am Duel from his crew chief. It was the same thing that Dale told him going into the weekend, offering to run the XFINITY car and break the deal that they had. It was growing annoying, but he understood the reason. They all simply cared about him a lot.

“I’ll be fine mom,” he tells her, knowing that it probably wouldn’t do any good in easing her worry. He knew that she’d be on his case about this till the moment that he was strapped in that No. 88 Tax Slayer Chevrolet.

“Dale told you that he’d run the rac-”

“I know what Dale told me, but I can do this. I’ll be fine. I want to run this. I need more practice and to learn more before Sunday’s race.”

It seemed like a ridiculous reason, but it was one that he stuck by. He had learned a bunch in practice and through the Can-Am Duel, but knew there was still ways that he could improve in drafting. While the XFINITY package was much different than the Sprint Cup Series package, there were small things that he could pick up in going through the motions of race, from getting back in the flow of pit stops to choosing the right line to draft in.

He understood their worries, though, as they all felt concern surrounding his level of pain. As noted, it was something that came up during the Can-Am Duel and he felt post-race, in going through breathing exercises and finding ways to ease the pain. That was 70 laps and he had felt a lot afterwards. It was why he was partially set on also running the race today. Being able to put 300 miles under his belt, and feeling the pain that he’d feel would prepare him and warn him for what he’d feel the next day in running 500 miles. If he could understand the pain, he could figure just how much concentration that it’d take to overcome it. besides, adrenaline played a big role in ignoring it, too.

Giving his mom a hug and a kiss, as well as another reassuring comment that he’d be fine, he makes his way out to pit road, set forth for the busy day ahead. He was set to qualify the car, run a final Sprint Cup Series practice session, followed by the XFINITY race. In the midst of that, there was dealing with the normal hoopa that surrounded him in interviews and autographs. Why was a simple boy from Georgia so important?

The day seemed to go by with ease, as he quickly found himself standing on the grid before the 300-mile race. He had qualified decently, within the teens, which meant a solid spot. if he could just pull off the right moves early in the going, he could get up front and stay up there to stay out of trouble.

“You seem nervous…” Chase comments as he looks over at Sarina, who was leaning against the car, tapping her foot against the pavement. She then looks over at him with a sigh.

“I’m fine…” She states as he shakes his head no, walking over in front of her.

“That’s a big load of crap so why don’t you tell me the truth?” She then lets out a sigh as she glances away, before returning her eyes back to his.

“I’m nervous about today’s race, okay? I’m nervous that something is going to happen and you’re going to hurt yourself. I’m just worried about you….” He then grabs her hand lightly with his, rubbing the back of it with his fingers as he keeps his gaze locked on her eyes.

“I’m going to be fine. You, just like everybody else, can stop worrying about me. If there was any hint that there’d be a problem, I wouldn’t be doing this.” She shakes her head, knowing that was probably the truth. However, she could only keep picturing what happened last year, and what happened last night in her head.

“What happens if you hit the wall like Kyle did? What happens if you flip like Christopher did? I can’t help but run those thoughts through my mind, Chase. I’m worried…” A small smile formed on his face.

“It’s because you love me, and you care about me more than you’re willing to admit, right?” She found her cheeks going a dark shade of red as she tried to look away from him. She now understood why some wives couldn’t bare to watch the race, and why others felt nervous as ever watching. “Sarina….”

“Okay, so I’ve fallen for you a lot more than I thought. Now, can you listen to me?” He shakes his head no as he focuses her gaze back on his.

“You’re a racer like myself. Out of all the people here worried today, you should know better than anyone why I am doing this. Like I said, though, I’ll be fine and there’s nothing to worry about. Just place those thoughts about Chris and Kyle out of your mind, and focus on the fun that we can have today.” She knew that he was probably right in having some fun. JR Motorsports always had quick superspeedway cars, and had come accustom to winning races in the past at Daytona and Talladega. Perhaps this could be a fun day, after all.

“I’ll try, for you. I love you.” She then leans in and gives in a quick kiss, followed by holding him closer longer than she had originally realized.

Following the standard opening ceremonies, Chase gave his parents each a hug, followed by a final kiss and hug to Sarina before climbing in the car. There was no time anymore to think about the worries that everybody had. He had to focus on the job at hand.

Throughout the course of the race, he played his strategy right, staying near the front for much of it, except for a small blip when he got shuffled back through pit strategy. However, everything came together as the race closed as he found himself leading with teammate Elliott Sadler in toe.

The final lap was where everything took place, as Joey was able to get the run. Using the knowledge that he had gained through the years with the package and the day, he made the block on Joey, in which Joey went forth in pushing him ahead. Joey then pulled to make the move high, in which Chase blocked just enough to edge the previous Daytona 500 winner at the line.

“Great job!!” Dave Elenz exclaimed over the radio, immediately beginning to high-five crew members on the team.

“Spectacular driving at the end,” Eddie D’Hondt came over the radio next.

“Woohoo!” Chase let out after everybody else had made their comments on the radio. “Great spotting, Eddie. Great car, Dave. Great job everybody.”

Chase ten coasted the car around to the front stretch, where it officially ran out of fuel. That was fine, though, as he climbed out and waved to the crowd before collecting the checkered flag. Returning back to the car and leaning against it, he knew that it’d be a bit before the tow truck got there to give him a push. It was fine, though, as he used the time to reflect.

It had been a chaotic couple of weeks, between preparing for the new season, aligning thing for Sarina with the late model team, and the plane crash. However, in that moment of reflection, it was all worth it. The pain that he had endured was worth it. The pressure that he kept trying to push aside was worth it. There was nothing that could replace the thrill of victory. In a way, everything made this moment sweeter.

Once he did get to victory lane, a certain party ensued with hugs shared all around, including a special hug and kiss for Sarina. It was the pair’s first trip to victory lane, and nothing could damper the smiles on either of their faces. Chase never thought that he could fall in love with a girl, always focused on his racing career, but he knew that this girl was the one. Sarina always found herself scared of love, but was glad that she let the walls cave in this moment for this time with Chase.

Now it was just about having a good run tomorrow to complete Speedweeks on a great note.